2019 Summer Reading Theme “It’s Showtime at Your Library” – Musicians
“It’s Showtime at Your Library” is the theme for iRead’s 2019 summer reading program, which is distributed for free to California libraries: www.ireadprogram.org/ and https://calchallenge.org/. Over the next few months, we will offer storytime ideas that relate to this theme. Of course, these can be done any time of year – it is always great to celebrate performing and the arts! This month, we will focus on musicians. For a craft project, make these cymbals from aluminum pans: www.crayola.com/crafts/celebration-cymbals-craft/.
Cox, Judy. My Family Plays Music. A child describes the various bands and genres of music played by the diverse family members.
Dean, James. The Petes Go Marching. Pete the cat and his duplicates march and play musical instruments.
Kuskin, Karla. The Philharmonic Gets Dressed. Various people get dressed for a special evening; at the end we find out they are part of an orchestra.
McCanna, Tim. Barnyard Boogie. A rhyming story of farm animals who form a band; filled with sound words your audience will repeat.
Newton, Jill. Don’t Wake Mr. Bear! The forest orchestra is ready for hibernation when a group of wolves comes by to play their loud music.
Saaf, Donald. The ABC Animal Orchestra. Filled with alliteration, this alphabet book shows animals playing musical instruments.
Shaskan, Trisha Speed. Punk Skunks. Two bandmates cannot decide on the subject of their next song.
Tripp, Paul. Tubby the Tuba. The tuba wants to show the other instruments that he can play a melody; based on a popular animated film.
Wright, Johanna. The Orchestra Pit. A snake describes his interaction with an orchestra.
Wu, Mike. Ellie in Concert. An elephant helps a giraffe fall asleep by forming an orchestra at the zoo.
Young, Jessica. Play This Book. In this interactive book, listeners are encouraged to “play’ the musical instruments in the story.